If there’s one thing I hope to instil into my kids, it’s not to be sheep.
This means not assuming everything they hear is true; thinking for themselves; not believing the spin. Questioning and challenging authority where it is appropriate.
Not following the trends blindly. (Maybe I can avoid them getting hooked on the teenybopper music.)
And it means not following everybody else across the street without looking first. If you’ve ever watched the people crossing Flinders Lane on the western side of Swanston St, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Heaps of people just wander across, whether the light is green or red, with no regard to any stream of cars that might be approaching them.
Baa!
5 replies on “Don’t be a sheep”
It’s like that at the intersection of Lt Lonsdale and Williams (particularlly crossing over Lt Lonsdale). ARGGGHH!!! “People! Stop! There are CARS COMING!” Seen too many close calls in that spot.
It used to be very concentrated at Bourke & Swanston, but it’s all over the place now. Collins St is pretty bad and I’ve seen a few knock-downs there (tram vs pedestrian, you guess the score). About every eighteen months or so, the police pop out and blitz the hotspots, but the next day it’s back to chaos. Why are these people in such a death-defying hurry?
Another example of how people are sheep can be observed during the morning “rush” at the tram stop on Collins and Spring Street corner. There’s a Yarra Trams guy who almost always has to herd people in the tram. He can clearly be heard with his (Italian?) accent yelling “Keep moving in people, help each other, I don’t know why you not moving in”, etc. He’s been there for at least two years saying the same stuff every morning and yet people still don’t get the message. Has that guy been mentioned before on this blog?
Do you listen to “The Spin” on 102.7 FM RRR (1pm, Sun) they have a lot of interesting stuff about the state and federal government and is the source of many a winner of “the rumour file” on 3AW.
I occassionally find myself doing exactly this sometimes when I’m *driving* and my mind is contemplating other things; I’ll follow the car ahead through an intersection and it’s not until I’m beyond the other side that it occurs to me that I hadn’t a clue what colour the traffic signal light was.